Justin Thomas Talks About The Switch

Matt Osborne

12/15/2011

The Georgia Tech faithful were pleasantly surprised when they awoke this morning to the news that four-star athlete Justin Thomas had decommitted from the University of Alabama, and was instead offering his verbal commitment to Georgia Tech.

Justin Thomas committed to the Crimson Tide with an understanding that he would be allowed to play quarterback in Tuscaloosa, but recent talks with the Alabama coaches made that seem like less of a certainty. With Thomas being steadfast in his desire to play quarterback at the collegiate level, his father placed a call to the Crimson Tide coaches informing them that Thomas would be looking elsewhere.

"After awhile, the Alabama coaches told me that they wanted to go a different route and see how I play in the system before they made a decision on my position," Thomas said. "They weren't sure if I would be able to play quarterback or not, which is what I want to play. That was the main factor in my decision. That was what I wanted to play and I felt Tech was going to give me the best opportunity to play it."

Upon decommitting from Alabama, Thomas said that he was basically choosing between Georgia Tech, Florida State and LSU. Despite never taking an official visit to Atlanta, Thomas decided that his previous trip to Georgia Tech was enough to pledge for the Yellow Jackets.

"I had taken a visit to Tech earlier in the year already. I had a family reunion over there and I went over there to see what was up at Georgia Tech for a little bit. It was all nice. They had great school benefits as well as football, so you can't find anything wrong with them."

Georgia Tech secondary coach Charles Kelly was also a big reason that Thomas ultimately decided to choose the Jackets.

"Sometimes he just calls and we just talk, and it's not always about football, so that's a good connection right there."

Now that Thomas is committed to his second school in less than a month, is there any possibility that another school might be able to sweep in and make a late push before Signing Day?